6 mo. ago • 99%

Moon dust

33 comments

99
I’m pretty sure everyone is allergic to having their skin and lungs rubbed with mica.

48
- Yeah, moon dust is basically microscopic shrapnel. No one should be breathing that shit in.
  
  12
Moon dust is functionally a lot like asbestos. It is composed of a sizeable amount of tiny shards of rock that aren't great for your lungs.

30
- Yea, you should really consider that before breathing on the moon
  
  22
  
  Any lunar dust that they made contact with would have found its way into the lunar module for them to breathe in and be exposed to.
  
  9
Isn't moon dust just sand?

21
- It's sand that has never been exposed to water or oxygen. This leaves various reactive chemicals on the surface that would normally be broken down. The lack of water also means the particles haven't been smoothed off as much. They are sharp and spiky.
  
  The combination of these effects makes the dust quite unique, compared to earth dust.
  
  86
  
  It also reportedly smells like gunpowder.
  
  19
- 50% SiO2, 15% Al2O3, 10% CaO, 10% MgO, 5% TiO2 and 5-15% iron
  
  26
  
  And 100% reason to remember the name.
  
  46
  
  All those oxides but the iron is pure? SUS.
  
  10
- Sand, but sharp due to a lack of water erosion, and formed mostly from asteroid impacts and thermal cycling. So it's more like glass dust. It's possible it has similar effects on lungs as asbestos, but we don't know for sure.
  
  6
  
  Ah got it.
  
  1
- Jack Schmidt = Anakin confirmed.
  
  2
  
  More like Jack Schmidt = Cave Johnson
  
  2
Not being allergic to finely graded rocks that have been bathing in radiation for billions of years seems more unlikely.

17
The sample size is at least a little bit bigger...

Some guy stole moon rocks (presumably still had moon dust on them) to bang his gf on them.

16
- better link: https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/thad-roberts-the-nasa-intern-who-stole-lunar-rocks-to-have-sex-on-the-moon/748813
  
  don't use amp links pls
  
  13
  
  Roberts was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his role in the Moonrock caper, as well as a separate offence of stealing dinosaur bones from a museum in Utah.
  
  I'm afraid to ask what he did with the dinosaur bones!
  
  16
  
  Thank you so much
  
  7
Here's a source for this: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/The_toxic_side_of_the_Moon

He's a climate change denier though.

15
- wow seems you're absolutely right https://www.livescience.com/63836-harrison-schmitt-climate-change.html
  
  very sad 😔
  
  3
So, if someone were to crash the moon into the earth to stop it escaping, as many as 1/12 of the population could experience a reduced quality of life?

Might need to consider not doing that I suppose.

15
what'd be the smallest sample size that would yield a relevant result?

30? 1000?

7
- Me. Just get me there
  
  2
  
  Can we not... Just... Bring back some moon dust?
  
  5
- Well, if humans were a homogeneous population maybe that could work. But just imagine the huge number of factors at play here. Like, demographics, cultural background (different exposures & different allergy rates in general I would guess), genetic susceptibilities, individual lifestyles (e.g smoking) and probably a lot more! Even a sample size of 1000 seems pretty small to test for general human allergy rates to moon dust. If you were talking about just one population of humans, e.g. the US, you would certainly need more than 30 but maybe not 1000.
  
  0
For reference: https://www.newsweek.com/last-man-walk-moon-allergic-lunar-dust-1449945

But. Moon dust is poisonous and gets everywhere.

2

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